Okay
by Catman99
Summary: A few short glimpses at Hannah & Neville. Oneshot.


It was the beginning of term feast in his sixth year when Neville first actually noticed her. She was trotting past, trailing behind Ernie Macmillan and Susan Bones, when she stopped and smiled at him.

"Hi Neville," she said, her face turning pink with something close to embarrassment.

"Oh, hi Hannah," he said cheerfully, recalling the DA meetings where he had first really met her "have a good summer?"

"Oh, er, yes, I did thanks," she mumbled, her eyes dropping. Neville gave a nervous grin, and an awkward silence fell between then both, before Seamus gave him a hearty slap on the back as he told some joke or another which seemed to jolt them both out of their reverie.

"So, I'll just be going," she said, her face now such a violent red that she could have given a Weasley a run for their money.

"I suggest the pot pie!" he said loudly as she began to walk away. Seamus gave him a pitying look.

"Pot pie? Really?" he asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Shut up," he muttered, forking some food into his mouth.

--

Not long after that was the day that Hannah remembered long after that as the worst day of her life. The day that her mother died. And the day that she was taken out of Hogwarts.

It was after Professor Sprout had taken her out of Herbology, when she was walking aimlessly towards the Hufflepuff common room with a numb, dazed air about her. She didn't see any of her friends, and she doubted that she would have done even if they were there. And then she walked straight into him. She bounced off, and looked up slowly.

"Hannah? You look - what's up?" Neville asked. Hannah let out a strangled gulp, as if she were trying to suck in as much air as possible. A look of abstract horror appeared on his face.

"Oh god! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" he started, but quickly stopped talking as the girl threw herself into his arms, sobbing uncontrollably. He made a choked sound of terror, then wrapped his arms around her stiffly, making a passable attempt to rub her back soothingly.

"Er, there there?" he tried. Hannah lifted her head away from his chest, and blinked, making a snuffling noise.

"What's happened?" he asked softly.

"It's my mum," she breathed "they found her at home with the Dark Mark…"

Neville went white with a mixture of horror, sympathy and pity. In his head, he was urging for her not to go on, but he knew that she almost certainly would.

"She was hanging from the light fixture apparently," Hannah said, her voice taking on a horribly conversational tone "they made her do it herself, I think. They used the Imperius curse and they made her do it herself. My little sister was at home. She hid in the ironing cupboard. My dad found her there after he found mum-"

She broke off into sobs again. He squeezed his arms around her protectively.

"I'm here," he said softly to her "I mean, I don't think anybody could really understand, but I do get it. And I'm not going to say that I'm sorry, cos you'll hear that a lot. But I am here for you. If you need me that is,"

Hannah looked up at him with big, doe like eyes.

"Thankyou Neville," she murmured, putting her head against his chest again.

--

It was the beginning of term feast again, his seventh year. Hannah had been taken out of school by her father, and although Neville had missed her terribly the first few weeks of her absence, the later events of the year had all but erased her from his mind. So it was with a mixture of elation, surprise and not a tinge of guiltiness that Neville saw Hannah Abbott racing across the dining hall and embracing both Ernie, then Justin then Susan Bones in turn. Neville turned to look at Seamus, who was darkly stabbing some roast potatoes.

"So this Snape thing then…" he started. Seamus glared at him.

"I warn you in advance - do not get me started," he muttered, then nodded behind him. Neville turned around on the bench to see Hannah standing beside him. She planted a shy kiss on his cheek.

"Hey Neville, good seeing you again," she said hurriedly, before scuttling off. Neville stared after her, move slightly open. Seamus snorted.

"Don't," Neville said "just don't,"

--

"You were very, very brave," Hannah announced, dabbing a swab covered with murtlap essence on some of the nastier cuts. Neville winced and sucked some air through his gritted teeth.

"Just doing what anyone would do," he mumbled, wincing with pain.

"Yes but they didn't, did they?" she said matter-of-factly. He had just had his first lesson with Alecto Carrow, which had ended with him being beaten nastily by the new Muggle Studies teacher. He was also very aware that he could just go to the Hospital Wing, but he found that sitting in the library with his top off being looked after by a rather attractive member of the opposite sex was rather more appealing.

"Y'know you mustn't do this again," she said sternly "You'll get yourself hurt even worse, doing something stupid,"

"Yeah…I was thinking about that actually…maybe I should talk with Ginny and Luna, see what they think…" he mumbled, more to himself than anyone else. Hannah gave him a penetrating glare.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Oh! The DA, I was thinking," he said, his cheeks taking on a little pink colour. Hannah gave him a strange look, then leant forwards gently and kissed him. Neville was taken aback for a second, then wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back. The kiss continued for a few seconds more, before Hannah rubbed up against one of his cuts and he hissed. She suddenly seemed to realise what she was doing, and pulled back, putting a hand to her mouth and running from the library, leaving Neville feeling very alone and very shirtless.

--

It was almost half past two in the morning. Seamus was still not back from his scheduled 'detention' with the Carrows. He had been caught writing a DA slogan on the walls of their office - it was a risky move even by their standards, but he had agreed to do it. The majority of the DA was huddled together in the Gryffindor common room, none of them daring to voice the thoughts that were racing around their heads.

"Okay, you guys should probably get back to bed, before anyone comes asking," Neville said, gesturing vaguely towards the exit and bidding them goodnight, before heading towards the dormitory that he and Seamus shared. He sat down on his bed, stiffening up. There'd been many jokes about them being the only boys left sharing the room, many that they'd thought of themselves. But now he was truly alone. It was frightening. He trembled.

Then a hand rested on his shoulder, and he almost jumped out of his skin,

"You okay?" Hannah asked softly.

"I'm fine," he muttered "you shouldn't sneak up on people like that,"

"Sorry," she whispered. Neville turned to look at her, and couldn't help but smile slightly.

"Can I help you?" he asked her quietly, taking her hand from his shoulders and interlacing it with his fingers.

"I thought you might need me," she said, he tone equally as hushed. He leaned in and kissed her softly, pulling her down onto the bed with him. As he did so, he couldn't help but smile. A few minutes later, the pair fell asleep under the covers, arms wrapped around each other and dreamy smiles on their sleep filled faces.

--

The black sky was alive with the crackle of magic. Black forms circled each other in some bizarre dance, silhouettes lunging and fighting against a backdrop of red and green. Neville himself was firing jets of red at the many Death Eaters who attempted to corner him. In one hand was his wand, the other the sword that he had used to kill the snake that had been ready to kill him. He was moving back towards the school, making sure that no living member of the Order or the DA was left behind him on his retreat. Finally he gave up his hopes of stemming the tide, and fled into the school.

Werewolves were attacking from all sides, lolloping, matted humans with the air of the wolf about them. He stunned a few, but eventually began to swing at them with the razor sharp sword of Godric Gryffindor. And then he saw Hannah, duelling a Death Eater whose mask was still on his face. He smiled briefly when he saw that she had hit him with a red stunner and knocked him back, but his smile turned into a grimace, and then a cry of horror as he saw the lead werewolf leap at her. He launched himself at the creature, and felt a thump as another body did the same. The three of them landed on the floor with a crack, and Neville dropped both his wand and the sword. The werewolf brought it's knee up into his gut and raked it's long filthy nails across his face. Fleetingly, he saw Ron bring his fists into the back of it's head, knocking it to the floor. Neville began to pummel the greying matted skull beneath him, until the creature stopped struggling.

"Bloody hell," Ron breathed, rolling back.

Neville crawled over, mindful of the pain in his stomach and face to where Hannah was laying in shock and pulled her into his arms.

"You're okay, I'm here," he whispered. She sobbed, putting her head on his shoulder, and then pointed at the centre of the hall. Neville turned and saw Harry, letting out a moan of surprise and relief, then propping himself up against the wall. He looked at Hannah, who smiled at him and took his hand. For once, he could honestly say that he was okay.


End file.
